About Us
The Kern County Water Agency (Agency) was created in 1961 by a special act of the California State Legislature and serves as the local contracting entity for the State Water Project.
The Kern County Water Agency (Agency) was created in 1961 by a special act of the California State Legislature and serves as the local contracting entity for the State Water Project.
What do we do?
The Agency participates in a wide scope of water management activities, including water quality, flood control and groundwater operations to preserve and enhance Kern County’s water supply—the main ingredient for the well-being of an economy.
The Agency was granted the authority to acquire and contract for water supplies for the San Joaquin Valley portion of Kern County, with additional power to control flood and supplies, in order to enhance the local economy.
The Agency is the second largest participant in the State Water Project (SWP), a water storage and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants.
The SWP, which extends for more than 600 miles (two-thirds of the length of California) was planned, built, and is operated by the California Department of Water Resources. The Agency has long term contracts with 13 local water districts, called Member Units, and Improvement District No. 4 (ID4) for SWP water.
ID4 was formed by a resolution adopted by the Agency Board of Directors in 1971 to provide a supplemental water supply for portions of the metropolitan Bakersfield area through the importation of water from the SWP. The imported supply is delivered directly to recharge areas for direct replenishment of the underlying groundwater aquifer or to the Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant for treatment and delivery to in-district water purveyors.
Built in 1977
Since 1977, the Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant has provided drinking water to homes and businesses within the northern and eastern portions of ID4’sboundaries. The peaking capacity was expanded in 2011 to 90 million-gallons per-day and began to supply water to the northwest metropolitan Bakersfield area. A conventional purification process is used to produce drinking water meeting all regulatory standards.
ID4 also administers a Water Education Program educating thousands of local students about Kern County’s local and state water supplies, and the importance of water and its conservation. The program incorporates teacher workshops, curriculum materials, assemblies, classroom presentations and student contests.
The process of water purification is explored at the Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant in this six-segment video series, along with a preview of the variety of careers available in the water industry.
Since 1975
In 1975, the Agency constructed the Cross Valley Canal (CVC) to move Project SWP water from the California Aqueduct to urban Bakersfield. The CVC’s capacity was expanded in 2005 to allow 1,422 cubic feet per second of flow. The CVC is a 22-mile facility connecting the California Aqueduct, local banking projects and districts, the Agency’s Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant and the Friant-Kern Canal.
Groundwater plays an integral part in how water is managed in Kern County. The Agency owns and operates one of the earliest groundwater banking operations. The Pioneer Project covers 2,200 acres to store surface water supplies during wet years for later use during dry years through extraction.
The Agency works to improve groundwater levels and to monitor groundwater quality throughout Kern County, especially in the areas surrounding groundwater banking projects. The Agency collects, interprets and distributes groundwater data for the Southern San Joaquin Valley and Indian Wells Valley groundwater basins. This information is used for the operation of groundwater banking and recharge programs in the preparation of a variety of reports. Approximately 800production wells and 200 monitoring wells are measured for groundwater levels on a semi annual basis within the Kern sub-basin of the San Joaquin Valley groundwater basin, and approximately 350 production and monitoring wells are measured monthly within the Kern River Alluvial Fan area.
